Computers and the Quality of Life: Assessing Flow in InformationSystems John M. Art z Departmentof ManagementSdence George Washington UniversityWashington, D.C 20052 jartz@gwuvm.gwu.edu o many people, the phrase "Computers and the Quality of Life" conjures up specific images of instances where computer technology affects the quality of one's life in very specific ways. Technology for the disabled, technostress, the loss of personal privacy, deskilling of jobs, and universal access to the information highway are but a few of the terms and catch phrases that we normally associate with computers and the quality of life. But the quality of life is a much broader issue and how computer technology affects the quality of life is much more elusive than what much of the current discussion on these topics suggests. Further, there are significant ways in which computers will affect our quality of life in the future which are not on the "radar screen" of current research and thus cannot be addressed at all if we limit ourselves to the examination of specific topics. The purpose of this paper is threefold. The first objective is to explore the concept of the quality of life with the goal of developing a useful
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